Web and Network Communications
Reference Partners - NextHop

NextHop Technologies' GateD family of products is a vendor-neutral, comprehensive control-plane solution which provides complete source-code for layer 3 IP routing protocols, MPLS, virtual routing, and virtual private networking.

GateD® NGC (Next Generation Carrier) builds on the GateD core technology adding MPLS, RSVP, LDP, virtual routing, and 2547/VPN capabilities to meet the needs of high-capacity, multi-service routing platforms and is designed specifically to meet the challenging needs of network equipment manufacturers in the service provider core, metro and edge markets.

GateD NGC VRRP module allows network equipment manufacturers to add device level redundancy capabilities for routers deployed on Ethernet networks where it is impossible or impractical to run router discovery on host machines. More than a simple protocol implementation, NextHop GateD NGC VRRP module provides a state-of-the-art solution for providing router redundancy on a statically routed broadcast network.

The GateD CLI module allows network equipment manufacturers to develop and deploy new equipment at unprecedented speeds, by removing the largest obstacle to deploying carrier-class control plane software - development and integration of a complete management solution.

NextHop’s GateD NGS sets the benchmark for the next generation of OEM Ethernet switching solutions by providing the most comprehensive feature set, with no additional engineering work required, while allowing maximum flexibility in configuration and deployment model. For fastest time to market, modifying a few constants in a single, convenient header file allow the developer to optimize memory consumption and match software to hardware functionality; combined with one of NextHop’s out-of-the-box ports, such as the GateD NGS 2.0 Broadcom Support Package, an OEM can enter QA with a fully-featured, stable switch in a matter of days.

For more advanced functionality, the GateD NGS HAL can be populated with driver-specific calls to make use of advanced features in custom silicon, and can be fully integrated with NextHop’s carrier-grade routing stack, GateD NGS, either directly or with the assistance of NextHop’s professional services engineers, resulting in record time-to-market for metro and core Ethernet switches and routers. The comprehensive feature set supports equipment requirements spanning from simple bridging and switching, to advanced VLAN and prioritization support for voice, video, data triple plays.

Security — Raising the Bar
In today’s market, “security” can’t just be a marketing check box; it’s a real requirement. NextHop’s GateD NGS raises the bar for security in the embedded software world. Built on top of common GateD core functionality, which is pre-audited to remove any major security holes, such as buffer overrun exploits, GateD NGS raises the bar by providing a simple yet comprehensive API to 802.1x port-based authentication schemes.

This powerful API allows for easy integration not just with commercial, off-the-shelf solutions such as RADIUS or TACACS+, but also with any proprietary security access which you may wish to deploy in your box. The VLAN capabilities of GateD NGS allow any individual VLAN to be configured as the management network, and 802.1x authentication control is on a per logical-port basis, giving your customers the greatest level of user control possible. And in addition to powerful access control lists for easy support of any filtering capability available in hardware, and basic switch defenses against such malicious activity as broadcast storms, the use of AgentX as the SNMP configuration mechanism allows support for SNMPv3 in conjunction with SSH to further enhance security and user access.

Native Triple Play Support
Fully integrated support for 802.1Q and 802.1p, along with IGMP snooping, GMRP, and advanced ACLs allows different types of data to be sent over different VLANs, and for those VLANs to be classified and forwarded in any method of prioritization that hardware allows, while simultaneously reducing overall bandwidth consumption on the network by optimizing multicast video feed traffic to only those ports which require it.

With appropriate hardware support, such as that provided in the Broadcom StrataXGS family of chips through the NextHop NGS 2.0 Broadcom Support Package, you can provide support to network managers which allows them to fine-tune ingress and egress traffic flows (where the number of flows per queue is only limited by hardware) on a per-port or per service basis. There is no more comprehensive way to allow your customers to speed deployment of converged voice, video, and data networks.

Key Features & Benefits

• Flexible Memory Footprint & Simple Hardware Integration
• Extensible Security
• Native Triple Play Support

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